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The winter storm hitting the Washington area today prompted the
House Small Business Committee to postpone a hearing on health-care reform, but the panel this
week continued to post sometimes heated comments from
entrepreneurs on the changes employers may be facing under the
law.

The GOP-led panel had planned the hearing for this afternoon to
explore the concerns of small businesses as implementation of key
Obamacare provisions proceed. While the
law has been phasing in since its 2010 enactment, provisions
mandating health coverage for most Americans and, essentially,
leaving many employers with 50 or more workers responsible for
providing the insurance go into effect in January 2014.

The committee, which says many employers remain confused about
how health reform will affect them, posted fresh comments Tuesday
on the Affordable Care Act that business owners had posted to the
"Open Mic" section of its website.

Here's a sampling.

"The Affordable Care Act is certainly not affordable for us as a
small business in America," said Marsha Newberry, owner of a
business in Grand Prairie, Texas, in a post dated last Friday. "I
do understand what President Obama is trying to do, however I do
not believe this is the correct answer."

"This has caused our company to examine our projects and reduce
our employee numbers by eliminating the labor intense projects,"
she added. "All this to avoid mandated healthcare by the federal
government. So we slow and or reduce our company growth to avoid
complete closure of the company. Neither of these are a good
solution for small business in America."

A Reno, Nevada, business owner said: "We eliminated six jobs
within the company, and we will continue downsizing. We will
outsource the functions previously done in house in order to stay
afloat. We have no budget for this damage. If that doesn't keep
us afloat, we will close our business down by September 30 this
year. Eleven more people out of jobs."

Meanwhile, the National Federation of Independent Business, which
unsuccessfully challenged Obamacare in the U.S. Supreme Court,
issued a release Tuesday previewing other testimony that small
business owners had planned to provide the House Small Business
Committee.

Hugh Joyce, owner of the James River Heating and Air Conditioning
Co. of Richmond, Va., had prepared to tell the panel that the
health reform law's penalty structure and compliance requirements
"act as a disincentive for many to provide coverage at all. There
will be significant unintended consequences as the provisions
cascade out over time," according to the NFIB release.

The Small Business Committee also had expected to hear testimony
from Louisa McQueeney, the general manager and CFO of Palm Beach
Groves, a Lantana, Fla., fruit-shipping business representing the
Main Street Alliance, a small-business group that pushed for
passage of the health reform law.

The government's health.gov website and the White House's blog
posted an interview last year with McQueeney, who said the
Affordable Care Act was helping because of a tax credit for
certain small businesses that provide coverage to employees.

The tax credit had allowed Palm Beach Groves to lower its health
insurance cost for the first time in 12 years, according to the
White House "Louisa-care" blog post.